Nim at Sea (10 page)

T
HE WATER WAS COLDER
than ice cream. Nim gasped as she sank deep and swirling in the waves of the ship’s huge wake—but then Selkie was below her, strong and solid, nudging her up through the murky gray.

Nim spluttered out cold water and breathed in warmer air as Fred scrambled onto her shoulder. She settled herself on Selkie’s back and wrapped her arms around the sea lion’s neck. The ship was already far ahead of them. Selkie could swim fast, but she had to move slowly with Nim on her back. They still had a long way to go.

To the left they could see the statue of an enormous green woman with birds circling her torch. Beside her was a small island with square red-brick buildings. Straight ahead was the huge city-island Nim and her friends were trying to reach: an island covered with shining gray towers as tall as the ship was long. It was as different from Nim’s island as any place in the world could be.

“You,” Alex said to herself when she woke up, “are the most mixed-up, muddleheaded, woolly-witted woman in the world.”

Alex agreed.

“You were living in a paradise with people you love, and you ran away.”

“It’s the worst thing I’ve ever done,” Alex agreed.

“So what are you going to do about it, Alex?”

“Go back,” said Alex. “Go straight back, figure things out, and make them right again.”

“You’ll go straight to the airport when you get off the ship?”

Alex thought for a second. “First I’ll go to see Delia.”

Halfway around the world, Jack was fast asleep, stretched out behind a row of chairs on the Isla Grande airport floor. It wasn’t much more comfortable than the raft, but Jack didn’t want to leave the airport and miss the plane. He didn’t want anything to keep him from finding Nim and Alex.

Back in New York Harbor, Nim and her friends found themselves surrounded by boats. There were three ships ahead of the Troppo Tourists, boxy orange ferries, small bright yellow water taxis, sleek yachts, and more than a dozen sailboats. Small planes darted overhead, and a helicopter whirred so fiercely that Selkie forgot about Nim and dove down deep. Nim and Fred floated off in surprise. Suddenly the waves seemed higher and the current seemed stronger—and Nim was colder and more tired than she’d ever been.

“Selkie!” she shouted. “Come back!”

Selkie glided up from below,
whuffl
ing apologetically as Nim and Fred slid back on.

The closer the buildings got, the bigger they grew. They were as tall as mountains, and they covered the island so thickly Nim wondered how people could walk in between them.

A motorboat roared by. Selkie swerved out of its way, but now two sailboats were following, with a whole fleet of other sailboats chasing them and a water taxi zipping through the middle.

“We’ve got to get out of here!” Nim said.

Selkie veered to the right, away from the racing sailboats.

A little gray-and-white tugboat with red trim and a fat and friendly shape was coming their way. No matter which way Selkie veered, the tug kept coming straight toward them. Its engines were slowing, and there was a man standing at the bow waving while another rushed to unclip its round white life rings.

“Hang on!” the captain shouted from a loudspeaker in the wheelhouse. “We’re coming!”

Nim and Selkie had been friends since Nim was a toddler. They both knew what the other was feeling, and now they both knew that they would never get to shore without help.

“If they try to put us in jail, we’ll just have to escape again!” Nim told Selkie and Fred, trying to sound braver than she felt.

The men tossed out the life rings. Then the youngest man threw off his jacket and shoes and jumped in. Nim slipped off Selkie, Fred slipped off Nim, and they all swam toward the boat.

“Over here!” shouted one of the men, running to the tug’s low, flat back section. “Daniel, bring her around to the stern!”

“Right!” the young man shouted, swimming desperately toward Nim. “Don’t worry! I’m coming!”

With Daniel on one side and Selkie on the other, Nim swam to the tug.

The two men on deck threw themselves down, reaching over the side to Nim. She grabbed their arms and was pulled up on board. Daniel followed.

Nim was coughing, spluttering, and shaking, and her teeth were chattering so hard she could barely speak. “Please get Fred!”

Daniel rushed to the edge. “There’s someone else out there?”

Nim pointed. Fred was riding on top of one of the life rings.

“That’s Fred?” Daniel asked. He was shivering a bit too. “I guess he can’t hang on to the life ring if we pull it in?”

Nim shook her head.

“Well,” said Daniel, readying himself to jump in again, “I sure hope he appreciates this.”

But at that moment, Selkie came up under Fred and soccer-tossed him onto the deck. Then, with a mighty heave, she flopped up beside him.

The older man came back from the wheelhouse with a blanket and wrapped it snugly around Nim. “I take it they’re friends of yours?” he asked as Fred scurried to Nim’s shoulder and Selkie settled herself protectively behind them.

Nim nodded.

“Okay. Because otherwise that’s one lost sea lion, let alone the iguana. So what happened?”

“I fell off a boat,” Nim said, pointing vaguely toward the disappearing sailboats.

“You fell off a boat and nobody noticed?”

Nim nodded, her teeth still chattering.

“Hmm. That’s not the whole story, is it?”

“No,” Nim said honestly.

“Well, let’s get you warmed up and we’ll work out what to do with you. How about some hot chocolate? And, Daniel, you’re the skinniest—how about finding her a spare T-shirt so we can dry her clothes?”

Nim went into the cabin and changed into Daniel’s T-shirt. It came down to her knees like a dress, so she could hang her own clothes out over the line to dry in the sun.

“Now,” said the older man when Nim reappeared. “Let’s start with names. You can call me Ivan. And you are…?”

“Nim Rusoe.”

“And where are your parents, Miss Nim Rusoe? Who am I going to call to say we’ve fished you out of the harbor and could they please come and pick you up?”

“My mom’s dead,” said Nim, “and you can’t call my dad. But I’m looking for my grown-up friend Alex Rover.”

“Alex Rover, like the author?” asked Ivan.

“Nim, like
Nim’s Island
?” asked Daniel, pointing to a water taxi zipping toward the shore. On its side was an enormous poster of a girl with a spyglass at her eye and an iguana on her shoulder, leaning out from the top of a palm tree while a sea lion splashed in the cove below.
NIM’S ISLAND
was written around the top, and “the newest by ALEX ROVER” in even bigger letters underneath.

Nim’s brain couldn’t believe what her eyes were seeing. It was like looking into her rainwater pool and seeing a strange, almost-Nim reflection looking back at her.

“Yes,” she whispered. “That’s me.”

J
ACK CHECKED HIS E-MAIL
at the airport again before his flight left. There was still nothing from Alex or Nim. Before, Jack hadn’t known if he was more scared or angry. Now he knew: he was just plain scared. Because it didn’t make sense: Alex would never have taken Nim without telling him. And Nim would never leave without telling him.

But what else could have happened? What if they’d been kidnapped by the supply plane pilot? What if he’d come right across the world to find them and they were still somewhere near the island? Should he jump straight onto a plane home the instant he landed?

I’ve got this far,
he decided.
I’ll look for them in the city first.

But as the plane roared up the runway, Jack suddenly remembered that if someone’s name wasn’t in his address book, the message went into the Trash folder unless it had the words “science” or “research” in the subject line.

Alex and Nim didn’t know that.

And the Trash folder had blinked every time he’d checked his e-mails.

Why didn’t I check?
Jack thought.
There could be a message about them in the Trash folder right now!

But he’d have to wait till the plane landed before he could find out.

Ivan was just about to phone Delia Defoe to tell her about Nim when a call came in over their radio. A big cruise ship needed a tugboat to tow it up the Hudson River to its dock.

“I guess we could take you with us,” said Ivan. “Maybe someone could meet you at the cruise ship terminal.”

“No!” Nim exclaimed. “I can’t go anywhere near the cruise ships!”

Ivan looked at her shrewdly. “You might have to tell us a bit more of your story, young Nim.”

“There’s a professor on the ship. He kidnapped Selkie, and he wanted Fred too. He said that was the law because of the Foundation for Research on Intelligent, Unique, and Interesting Animals—but Selkie’s been my friend since I was three, and Fred since he was hatched…they can’t belong to this Foundation and get taken away to be studied. They just can’t.”

“So you jumped overboard to save them?”

Nim nodded.

Daniel whistled.

“Well,” said Ivan, “you’ve got the courage of your convictions, that’s for sure. I don’t see that we’ve got any choice but to get you where you’re going, sea lion, iguana, and all. And until the police have looked into this professor and his Foundation, we’ll help you steer clear of him.”

“We could drop you off somewhere,” Daniel suggested, “if someone could meet you.”

Ivan phoned Papyrus Publishing. When he asked to speak to Delia Defoe, he was put through to her voice mail. And when he phoned back and tried to explain that he had the real Nim with him and that she needed to find Alex Rover, he was put through to a special recorded announcement about publicity for Alex Rover’s new book. When he tried a third time and explained how urgent it was, he was told that Papyrus Publishing never, ever gave out an author’s address or phone number.

“I’m afraid you’ll simply have to go to the publishing house,” said Ivan. “We could put you in a cab.”

“I don’t think a cab would take Selkie,” Daniel pointed out.

“But I can’t leave Selkie!” Nim protested.

“Ork!”
Selkie barked.

“I know!” said Daniel. “I’ll phone my sister-in-law, Carla. You’ll all fit in her delivery van.”

He picked up his phone. Nim could faintly hear Carla on the other end: “A sea lion? Are you for real?”

The radio crackled. “The cruise ship’s waiting. Is there a problem?”

Daniel grinned as he put away his phone. “We’re in luck—Carla’s down near the water taxi dock right now.”

“Give me five minutes!” Ivan said into the radio. “We’ve got an emergency delivery to the water taxi dock.”

“Does Carla like sea lions?” Nim asked anxiously.

“Sure! She’s just never met one.”

“And marine iguanas?”

“Who wouldn’t love Fred?”

Fred smirked and went on munching the salad Ivan had made for him.

Nim’s clothes were nearly dry. She took them off the line and changed in the cabin as they pulled in to the dock.

Ivan handed her a card when she came back to the wheel-house. “Now, Miss Nim Rusoe, you’ll be fine with Carla. But this has got my name and phone number—you call me if you’ve got any problems. You call me if you don’t have any problems! We want to hear you got there safe.”

“Thank you,” said Nim. “And thank you for the sandwich and hot chocolate.” If she ever did get back to the island, she thought, maybe she could take some hot chocolate with her.

“Here’s my number too,” said Daniel.

“And thank you for rescuing me,” Nim said.

“Anyone jumps off a ship into the Hudson River to rescue their friends,” said Daniel, “I’d be proud to pull them out.”

“Just don’t make a habit of it!” Ivan warned, giving her a warm hug. “And don’t forget to call us.”

The tug bumped up against the dock. Daniel jumped down, and Selkie, Nim, and Fred followed him to the edge of a park, with a wide stretch of green grass that ended at a path as smooth and hard as rock. The path was so crowded that everyone had to move fast and determinedly. Nim had never imagined that so many people could fit into the same place at the same time.

While they walked, they talked on phones, to each other, or to themselves. Some used words Nim couldn’t understand and languages she’d never heard. They drank cans of soda and cups of coffee, ate ice cream on sticks and hot dogs and pretzels, carried purses and briefcases and fat bags with shopping or small dogs inside—and somehow they hardly ever bumped into each other!

“Come on,” said Daniel. “Carla’s waiting. It’ll be fine.”

Nim took a deep breath. Fred curled himself tighter around her neck. Selkie pressed hard against her. They followed Daniel down the path.

Next to the path was a road, and on the road there were cars. Lots of yellow cars, and lots of every-other-color-in-the-world cars. Some were going one way and some were going the other, but just when Nim thought they’d meet
smash
in the middle, they slipped safely on by.

Nim had seen pictures of cars, but she’d never heard the noise or smelled the smell. The smell was hot and the noise was hotter, and just when she thought it couldn’t get any louder, there was a high-pitched siren and a roaring noise like a sea lion bull, and a huge red truck came screaming by.

Selkie didn’t like this place with all its strange noises, and she wanted to get out of it as fast as she could. She galumphed off the path onto the street.

Cars
honk
ed and brakes screeched.

“Selkie!” shouted Nim, dashing into the road after her.

“Wait!” shouted Daniel, grabbing Nim’s arm.

“What part of
DON’T WALK
don’t you understand?” shouted a driver in a yellow car at the people dashing across while the cars stopped for Selkie.

Selkie barked crossly and flopped back up onto the path.

“It’s Nim and the sea lion!” shouted a woman on the opposite side of the road.

“Is that who you’re supposed to be?” a man called. “Are you supposed to be Nim?”

“Great publicity stunt!” cheered another man.

Then the cars stopped, and so did the flashing sign of a red warning hand. As everyone stepped onto the street, the sign below lit up to show a little man walking.

So that’s how they know when to do it!
thought Nim, and stepped up onto the sidewalk on the other side.

They hurried on through a little park, ignoring the flowers and cool splashing fountain. At the end of the park was an enormous bull.

Selkie barked and wouldn’t go on.

“It’s okay!” Nim coaxed. “He’s just a statue!”

Selkie froze into her statue trick, and the people who were lined up to have their pictures taken with the bull ran over to take pictures of Selkie too.

“Is that a real sea lion?”

“Is it safe?”

“Of course,” said Nim, and a woman rushed up to stand beside her while her friend took a picture. Fred reached over and gulped the top off her ice cream cone.

“Sorry,” said Nim, though Fred wasn’t sorry at all.

There was a whisper of excitement, and more people kept coming and taking more pictures.

“Got to keep moving, guys!” Daniel said.

“Where are you going?” a long-haired man called.

“Papyrus Publishing.”

“Do you need the address?” asked a grandmotherly woman, writing it on the back of her shopping list. “My son works there.”

“That’s a long way uptown,” said a woman in a red suit. “How’re you going to get them there?”

“You could take the subway!” suggested the long-haired man.

“You can’t take a sea lion on the subway!” said the redsuited woman. “You’d need to call one of those cabs that take dogs.”

“My sister uses those to take her dogs to day care,” said a carpenter walking past. “I’ll call her and get their number.”

“Thanks,” said Daniel, “but we’ve already got a ride.” They crossed the avenue to a woman opening the back door of a van covered with pictures of dogs and the words
CARLA’S CANINE CAKES.